What went wrong with Noida Extension?

The wake of three years from 2006 to 2009 saw an astonishing amount of land acquisition by authority from farmers at a very cheap rate. These plots were then sold off to builders at a hefty rate and hence construction had begun. Construction at several sites came to a halt in 2011, when a group of farmers challenged the process of acquisition of land in the area in Allahabad high court.There were no end to buyers' woes and even bank declined to fund Noida extension projects. Even national bank denied application to shift the loans to lower interest rates. This made the properties of Noida extension uncertain with the ghost of EMI and rent hovering around. Also the per feet land cost has gone up by about 2000 Rs. per sq feet.

Thousands of buyers have put in money in housing projects in Noida Extension and the past five years have been full of trepidation or them. In one case, few builders have not been able to hand over possession of homes because of their projects adjacent to the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Okhla Bird Sanctuary for over a year due to the order of NGT in October 2013, which stopped Noida Authority from giving completion certificates to projects within a 10 km radius of the sanctuary. More than 50,000 apartment buyersby latest estimates, in Noida have been affected by this order. In the second case – a recent NGT order – developers not following the 2010 guidelines of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) have been restricted from completing their development projects in Noida Extension. The guidelines outlines an order to the precautions that need to be taken by the builders and checking pollution during construction activities. Many realtors in Greater Noida and Noida didn’t follow MOEF-2010 guidelines during construction because there were no concerned authorities to monitor their activities. Construction work in 20 projects will further be delayed, meddling with the buyers in these projects. Many buyers remain uncertain having paid almost the full amount for their homes in these areas, but in the light of these NGT orders, they do not know when they will be able to sell off their apartmentsor evenmove into their new homes.

The recent ruling on the farmers’ case opposing their land acquisition granted a virtual go-ahead to builders to carry out construction without worrying about the fate of the land acquired,upholding the acquisition holds good and there will be no further stipulations. The judgment relates to 65 villages – 42 in Greater Noida and 23 in Noida Extension. The Allahabad high court ruling gave the farmers 64.7 per cent enhancement in compensation and the farmers getting 10 percent of their acquired land after its development.

The judgment will prove to be a boon for those who have invested in these flatswhich are nearly 1.5 lakhs people. Hence the construction can go on without any barriers for now and Noida extension shall become an ecstatic place to invest.